Dale Davis scored six of his 16 points during a key run to start
the second half as the Indiana Pacers crushed the undermanned
Milwaukee Bucks, 96-76.

Rik Smits had 20 points and 11 rebounds while Reggie Miller
chipped in 15 points for the Pacers, who have won 12 of their
last 14 home games.

"The guys played hard tonight," said Indiana coach Larry Bird.
"If we can hold teams to around 80, 85 points, we've got a good
chance to win."

A dunk by Miller 17 seconds into the second half gave the Pacers
a 51-46 lead. Milwaukee's Michael Curry answered with a jumper,
but Indiana scored the next seven points. Chris Mullin and
Smits drained long jumpers and Miller nailed a three-pointer to
make it 58-48 with 7:51 to play.

After baskets by Ray Allen and Elliot Perry cut the deficit to
six, Davis made a layup and scored on a tip-in to restore the
double-digit lead at 62-52 with 5:56 to go in the quarter.

"In the first half, I thought we came out flat and allowed them
to do what they wanted to do," Davis said. "At halftime, coach
made some adjustments and we played pretty good. In practice
yesterday, we went back to basics and it showed tonight."

Perry finished with 25 points, Allen had 20 and Tyrone Hill 10
and 13 rebounds for Milwaukee, which has dropped four straight
and seven of its last eight games. The Bucks played without
injured starters Terrell Brandon and Glenn Robinson.

"We'll just try to find a comfort level with the players we
have," Allen said. "Hopefully, that will make it easier for us.
We just need to pay attention to other teams and to do what we
need to accomplish. Now we have to overachieve and realize our
margin of error is small."

A 21-footer by Smits with 4:14 remaining in the first quarter
gave the Pacers their largest lead of the first half, 19-11. But
Perry exploded for nine points during an 11-4 run to draw the
Bucks within 23-22 with 62 seconds left in the period.

A three-pointer by Travis Best gave Indiana a 30-26 edge just
over a minute into the second quarter, but neither team was able
to build more than a three-point advantage and the Pacers lead
at the break, 49-46.

Perry scored 21 points in the first half on 9-of-13 shooting.

"Elliott had a tremendous first half," Bucks coach Chris Ford
said. "His offense kept us in the game. We just couldn't sustain
it. Right now it's tough for us to score points. There's only
so many places you can go."

The Bucks were outscored in the third quarter, 20-12, and did
not pick it up in the fourth. Two free throws by Ricky Pierce
with 11:45 remaining cut the deficit to 69-60, but it was the
last time Milwaukee trailed by single digits. Indiana went on a
21-9 run and took their largest lead of the game, 90-70, with
2:07 to play.

Mark Jackson had 13 assists for the Pacers and needs just 20 to
tie Maurice Cheeks for fifth place on the all-time list.